Flying Lessons

I was still screaming when I ran out of air. Gulping a breath, I stared down at the ground. Tendrils of cloud shifted around me, not doing nearly enough to obscure the fact that the tree-filled landscape was much too far beneath us.

I forced back another scream and stared at my waist. Wrapped around me were two arms that both looked and felt terrifyingly insubstantial. I had no idea how something that seemed as light as the breeze was holding me up here, but I couldn't think about that right now. I had more pressing problems. Like where the cloud was taking me and why. Even worse, tiny sparks were flying around us, and I didn't like my odds for avoiding electrocution. The hairs on my arms stuck straight out, tingling with the energy crackling around me.

So, so bad.

I was ready to bid the Earth good-bye when I saw my small town beneath us and something snapped. That was my town. I was done being manipulated by paranormals. If this thing could touch me, then I sure as Hades could touch it. And if I could touch it . . .

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It had to be done. It wasn't because I wanted to-this was a matter of life and death. Odds were it wouldn't work anyway. I might be an Empty One, able to suck the souls straight out of paranormals, but I'd only done it once before. And that was different; the souls had been trapped and they wanted to come to me. This thing probably didn't want to give me its life energy.

Still worth a shot. I threw my shoulder back, reached around, and put my hand flat against the first solid thing I felt, praying that whatever this cloud creature was, it had a chest.

I gave myself up, willing the channel between my hand and Cloud Freak's soul to open. I want this, I thought, my mind screaming desperation. I needthis.

My eyes flew open in shock, the soul crackling with dry, charged heat as it flowed down my arm and into my core, filtering outward until every part of my body tingled.

The creature let out a shrill cry of surprise and pain. It jerked back, breaking the connection; my head spun, drunk with the rush of new, strange energy.

And then we fell.

What a brilliant idea, Evie, go ahead and suck the energy out of the thing keeping you aloft thousands of feet in the air. But it was still holding it together somehow. We were spinning out of control, but we weren't falling as swiftly as we should have been. If we could make it to the ground, we'd be okay.

It dropped me. I screamed, scrambling and grabbing onto its foot. It shrieked in frustration, kicking out, but I wasn't about to let go. We were in this together. The earth rushed up toward us, a green and orange carpet of trees.

Before I could brace myself, I slammed through the canopy, leaves flying around me as I bounced off a branch and let go of my cloud's foot. Another branch whacked my hip, slowing me enough that when the ground and I finally caught up with each other, it only felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

Every bone in my body had to be broken. There was no way I could be in this much pain and have any surviving appendages. I'd be in a body cast for the rest of my life. This was going to complicate cuddling with Lend. At least I'd get out of school for a while. And I'd definitely be off the hook for gym.

Electric tingling sensations rushed up and down my body, replacing the pain and making me feel buoyant, like my limbs were fuzzy and disconnected.

Oh, bleep. I was paralyzed.

Panicked, I leaped to my feet, running my hands over myself in horror. Well, duh. If I could do this, probably not paralyzed. Why did I feel so weird then? And where was Cloud Freak?

"Horrible thing!" a voice like the wind through dead trees rasped. "What has it done to me?"

Still covered in clinging tendrils of cloud, the small creature crawled across the dirt toward me. Although shaped like a person, it was delicate-almost childlike. Its eyes flashed brilliant white like lightning, but the rest of its features were blurred and indistinct; even its color matched the pale shade of cloud. To anyone else it would look like an animated section of solid fog, but my glamour-piercing eyes saw everything.

I took a step backward, trying not to stumble on the exposed roots of the massive tree kind enough to break my fall. "Hey, I didn't ask to be snatched and flown off!"

"It took me-it took part of me away. Give it back."

I backed up against the tree trunk. The creature levitated, turning upright and hovering in front of me. Thin traces of lightning surrounded it like a web. Its limbs blended in and out of the cloud-sometimes there, sometimes not-but there was an undeniable sense of power and force to it.

I was so out of my league here. I held up my hand and tried to look braver than I felt. "Leave me alone or I'll take it all." My voice trembled, part fear but part longing. My fingers tingled, my body yearned. A taste wasn't enough. I wanted the rest.

No, I didn't. I couldn't have it. I didn't want it. I wasn't that person. I'd give it back if I could, but I didn't know how.

Cloud Freak narrowed its large, flashing eyes at me. The air between us was dry and hot, charged with crackling electricity. It was going to kill me. I took a deep breath, wondering how much it would hurt, when the thing shot back up into the sky with a shrill blast of air. I watched as it went higher, occasionally veering to the side or losing altitude before climbing again. And then it was gone.

Letting out a trembling breath of relief, I leaned back against the tree. When I daydreamed about something happening to make my life more exciting again, this wasn't what I had in mind. Clearly I forgot what being involved with paranormals-real, uncontrollable paranormals-entailed.

Fear.

Lots and lots of fear.

And now I didn't even have Tasey with me for comfort. I stepped forward resolutely, taking stock of my situation. I had dropped my bag when Cloud Freak snatched me, which meant no cell phone. And while I was pretty sure we had been close to home when we fell out of the sky, who knew how far off course our fall had taken us? Still, how big could a forest be in the middle of Virginia?

No doubt I was going to find out.

By the time I hit a road an hour later I was tired, sweaty, and depressed. What were the odds that Raquel showed up the exact same time a paranormal tried to snatch me? What was she playing at, pretending to let me off the hook with IPCA and then coming back for me? I found it hard to believe that her goal had been to lure me out of the school so Cloud Freak could grab me, but it seemed the likeliest explanation. The idea that Raquel-who had been like a mom to me during my years at the Center-would do something like that broke my heart.

Fine, though. If IPCA wanted to play it like that, so be it. I stretched my hand and smiled, a vicious, smug thing. I could take care of myself now.

I shuddered, shaking out my hand to get rid of the tingles. No. I was never doing that again. Ever. I liked it too much.

My inner compass was better than I gave it credit for, because I managed to pick the right direction on the road. Practically crying with relief, I saw the turnoff to Lend's house. My old house, before he moved out and I moved in with Arianna to avoid the awkwardness of living with my boyfriend's dad. I ran up the long, winding drive and burst through the door into the family room.

Raquel was sitting on the couch.

"What the crap?" I shouted.

She jumped up and grabbed me before I could think to block. I tensed. And then I realized she was hugging me.

"I haven't seen you in months and you go and get kidnapped first thing! I thought you were trying to be normal!" She pulled back, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

"You mean you didn't send that thing?"

"Goodness no!"

"What was it?"

David stumbled into the room, a phone in his hand and a relieved look on his face. "You're okay!"

"Besides being kidnapped by a living cloud and dropped thousands of feet to the ground? Yeah, I'm peachy."

"So it was a sylph!" David pointed triumphantly at Raquel. "I told you they existed!"

Raquel's lips tightened, and it was all she could do to hold back a sigh. "Yes, it would appear you were correct."

"Wow." David ran his hands through his thick, dark hair, eyes lit up with excitement. "Wow. A sylph. I think that's the first confirmed contact ever!"

I raised my hand. "Umm, hello? Girl who was kidnapped by said sylph? Anyone want to fill me in on what it is and why it decided to give me an aerial tour of our fine state?"

"Sylphs are air elementals." Raquel spoke quickly, shooting a perturbed look at David, like she wanted to prove that even if she hadn't believed in them, she still knew more than he did. "Thought to be distantly related to faeries. It was commonly believed that they either never existed or had simply ceased to be, but this is because a sylph would never willingly touch the ground, thus making finding one impossible and looking for them an enormous waste of time." She shot another one of those looks at David.

"Oh, come on, just because my specialty was elementals and you focused on common paranormals like unicorns and leprechauns." David winked at me as if I were somehow in on this joke. "She's always been jealous that I know all the really cool ones."

Now I was the one holding back an annoyed sigh. "Air elemental, got it. Great. Now does anyone know why? You said they were related to faeries maybe?" All my annoyance squished itself into a ball of fear. I didn't want the fey back in my life.

Neither one of them said anything. Then Raquel cleared her throat, her voice strained. "We could always ask Cresseda if she knows anything." She said "Cresseda"-Lend's mom and the resident water elemental-with a strange emphasis.

"No, we can't, actually." David shuffled his toes into the carpet. "I haven't been able to get her to surface for a couple of months now. Ever since Lend moved out." His voice was soft, but the pain underlying his words was obvious. I wanted to hug him. It was bad enough that he fell in love with an immortal water nymph, worse still that she only stayed human with him for a year. But now for her to abandon him entirely because Lend was gone? I couldn't imagine the pain.

Actually, I could imagine it. I frequently imagined it. Some days it was all I could do not to imagine it. Being the mortal in a mortal/immortal duo was something I understood all too well.

I still hadn't told Lend he was never going to die, though. The thought that he might give up this life-the one here, with me-to figure out how to be an immortal terrified me. I'd tell him, though. Soon. Soonish.

Eventually.

Raquel straightened, looking pleased. "Well then, this is something I can help with. I'll get all my researchers on air elementals. It's strange that it would show up now, especially given recent upheavals in elemental populations. We'll figure it out. But it's not why I'm here."

I frowned. "Exactly why are you here?"

"IPCA needs your help."